Tag: Law and order

Kevin Spacey faces civil trial on sexual assault claims

NEW YORK — Kevin Spacey heads to court Thursday to defend himself in a lawsuit filed by Anthony Rapp, the actor who in 2017 made the first in a string of sexual misconduct allegations that left the “House of Cards” star’s theater and filmmaking career in tatters.

The trial, expected to last less than two weeks, will focus on an alleged encounter between the two men in New York City in 1986, when Rapp was a blossoming child actor and Spacey, then 26, was having a breakout moment on Broadway.

Rapp, who was 14 at the time, said the older actor invited him to a party at his Manhattan apartment, then tried to seduce him in a bedroom after the other guests had left.

He said a drunk, swaying Spacey swept him up in his arms, like a groom carrying a bride, then laid him on a bed and climbed on top of him. Rapp said he quickly wriggled away and left, then kept quiet about what happened for three decades as both actors saw their careers take off.

When Rapp told his story to Buzzfeed in 2017 as the #MeToo movement began to grip Hollywood, Spacey said he had no recollection of the incident, “but if I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.”

Since then, though, Spacey’s legal team has said the accusation is false. Rapp never attended the party, they said. And even if it had happened as Rapp described, they have argued, it wouldn’t constitute a sexual advance.

Jury selection for the trial begins Thursday, with opening statements to follow. Rapp wants compensation for mental and emotional suffering, medical expenses and loss of work.

The trial comes at a fraught time for Spacey, now 63.

Three months ago he pleaded not guilty in London to charges that he sexually assaulted three men between 2004 and 2015 when he was the artistic director at the Old Vic theater.

A judge in Los Angeles this summer approved an arbitrator’s decision to order Spacey to pay $30.9 million to the makers of the Netflix show “House of Cards” for violating his contract by sexually harassing crew members.

Those setbacks followed some victories for Spacey, who has recently been acting in films again.

In 2019, prosecutors in Massachusetts dropped indecent assault and battery charges that had been filed after a man claimed Spacey had groped him at a Nantucket bar. Spacey said he was innocent. His accuser also dropped a civil lawsuit.

Spacey won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in “American Beauty,” a 1999 film in which he played a frustrated suburban father who lusts after his teenage daughter’s best friend.

Rapp, who as a teenager acted in films including “Adventures in Babysitting,” was part of the original Broadway cast of “Rent,” and is now a regular on “Star Trek: Discovery” on television.

Both Rapp and Spacey are expected to testify at the trial.

Other witnesses will likely include a psychologist who believes Rapp currently experiences post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the encounter with Spacey.

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October 5, 2022
Closing arguments set in Alex Jones’ Sandy Hook trial

WATERBURY, Conn. — A Connecticut jury is expected to hear closing arguments Thursday in a trial to determine how much Infowars host Alex Jones should pay for persuading his audience that the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School was a hoax perpetrated to impose more gun control laws.

The six-person jury could begin deliberations by the day’s end in the lawsuit, one of several filed against the conspiracy theorist by relatives of the 26 people killed in the mass shooting.

Since the trial began Sept. 13, all 15 plaintiffs in the Connecticut lawsuit have testified about being tormented for a decade by people who believed Jones’ claims that the shooting never happened, and that the parents of the 20 slain children were “crisis actors.”

The plaintiffs said they have received death and rape threats, mail from conspiracy theorists that included photos of dead children, and had in-person confrontations with hoax believers. They sued Jones for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and violating Connecticut’s unfair trade practices law by profiting off the hoax lies.

The people suing Jones and his company, Free Speech System, in the Connecticut case include the relatives of eight massacre victims, as well as an FBI agent who responded to the school.

Mark Barden, whose son Daniel was among the 26 victims, told the jury conspiracy theorists threatened to dig up the boy’s grave to prove the shooting never happened.

“This is so sacrosanct and hallowed a place for my family and to hear that people were desecrating it and urinating on it and threatening to dig it up, I don’t know how to articulate to you what that feels like,” Barden told the jury. “But that’s where we are.”

Jones, whose show and Infowars brand is based in Austin, Texas, was found liable for defaming the plaintiffs last year. In an unusual ruling, Judge Barbara Bellis found Jones had forfeited his right to a trial as a consequence of repeated violations of court orders and failures to turn over documents to the plaintiffs’ lawyers.

Jones took the stand for a contentious day of testimony, saying he was “done saying I’m sorry” for calling the school shooting a hoax.

Outside the courthouse and on his web show, he has repeatedly bashed the trial as a “kangaroo court” and an effort to put him out of business. He has cited free speech rights, but he and his lawyer were not allowed to make that argument during the trial because he already had been found liable.

Jones’ lawyer, Norm Pattis, has been trying to limit any damages awarded to the victims’ families and claimed the relatives were exaggerating their claims of being harmed.

In a similar trial in Texas in August, a jury ordered Jones to pay nearly $50 million in damages to the parents of one of the children killed in the shooting, because of the hoax lies. A third such trial, also in Texas, involving two other parents is expected to begin near the end of the year.

Jones has said he expects the cases to be tied up in appeals for the next two years and has asked his audience to help him raise $500,000 to pay for his legal expenses. Free Speech Systems, meanwhile, is seeking bankruptcy protection.

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October 5, 2022
Former Uber security chief guilty of data breach coverup

SAN FRANCISCO — The former chief security officer for Uber was convicted Wednesday of trying to cover up a 2016 data breach in which hackers accessed tens of millions of customer records from the ride-hailing service.

A federal jury in San Francisco convicted Joseph Sullivan of obstructing justice and concealing knowledge that a federal felony had been committed, federal prosecutors said.

Sullivan remains free on bond pending sentencing and could face a total of eight years in prison on the two charges when he is sentenced, prosecutors said.

“Technology companies in the Northern District of California collect and store vast amounts of data from users,” U.S. Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds said in a statement. “We will not tolerate concealment of important information from the public by corporate executives more interested in protecting their reputation and that of their employers than in protecting users.”

Sullivan was hired as Uber’s chief security officer in 2015. In November 2016, Sullivan was emailed by hackers, and employees quickly confirmed that they had stolen records on about 57 million users and also 600,000 driver’s license numbers, prosecutors said.

After learning of the breach, Sullivan began a scheme to hide it from the public and the Federal Trade Commission, which had been investigating a smaller 2014 hack, authorities said.

According to the U.S. attorney’s office, Sullivan told subordinates that “the story outside of the security group was to be that ‘this investigation does not exist,’” and arranged to pay the hackers $100,000 in bitcoin in exchange for them signing non-disclosure agreements promising not to reveal the hack. He also never mentioned the breach to Uber lawyers who were involved with the FTC’s inquiry, prosecutors said.

“Sullivan orchestrated these acts despite knowing that the hackers were hacking and extorting other companies as well as Uber,” the U.S. attorney’s office said.

Uber’s new management began investigating the breach in the fall of 2017. Despite Sullivan lying to the chief executive officer and others, the truth was uncovered and the breach was made public, prosecutors said.

Sullivan was fired. The hackers pleaded guilty in 2019 to computer fraud conspiracy charges and are awaiting sentencing.

An email to Uber seeking comment on the conviction wasn’t immediately returned.

Some experts have questioned how much cybersecurity has improved at Uber since the breach.

The company announced last month that all its services were operational following what security professionals called a major data breach, claiming there was no evidence the hacker got access to sensitive user data.

The lone hacker apparently gained access posing as a colleague, tricking an Uber employee into surrendering their credentials. Screenshots the hacker shared with security researchers indicate they obtained full access to the cloud-based systems where Uber stores sensitive customer and financial data.

It is not known how much data the hacker stole or how long they were inside Uber’s network. There was no indication they destroyed data.

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October 5, 2022
Family of Mexican migrant slain in West Texas seek answers

AUSTIN, Texas — The family of a migrant authorities say was shot to death in Texas by two brothers — including one who was the warden of a detention facility with a history of abuse allegations — are demanding more information this week, as the two men charged in the killing were released from jail.

Jesús Iván Sepúlveda, 22, of Durango, Mexico, was identified by family members as the man who was killed in the Hudspeth County shooting that also left one woman injured. The woman remained hospitalized in stable condition Wednesday, according to a statement from the Mexican Consulate,

Sepúlveda was trying to get to the Texas capital of Austin to reunite with his wife and two children — a 6-month-old and a 3-year-old — and hoped to make enough money to build a home for his family in Mexico, his family said.

“People go (to the U.S.) to follow a dream,” Napoleon Sepúlveda, the victim’s father, told the El Paso Times in Juare z, Mexico, on Tuesday. “And they’re just out there hunting people down.”

DPS said the victims were among a group of migrants drinking water from a reservoir near a road when a truck with two men inside pulled over. The group took cover to avoid being seen, according to court documents, but emerged when the truck backed up.

Witnesses told authorities that one of the men in the truck yelled derogatory terms and revved the engine. The driver then exited the vehicle and fired two shots at the group.

Michael Sheppard, a former warden at the privately run West Texas Detention Facility, which can house immigrant detainees, and his brother Mark Sheppard, both 60, were arrested and charged with manslaughter following the shooting. Both were released on a $250,000 bail each this week, according to the Hudspeth County Sheriff’s Office.

A voicemail left Wednesday at a number belonging to Mark Sheppard was not immediately returned. No current contact information was immediately available for Michael Sheppard, and it was not clear whether either has retained an attorney.

A spokesman for facility operator Louisiana-based Lasalle Corrections, which runs the West Texas Detention Facility, told The Associated Press last week in an email that Michael Sheppard had been fired as warden “due to an off-duty incident unrelated to his employment.”

The Mexican Consulate said it was working with local attorneys to seek possible cases for human rights violations. Additionally, the Anti-Defamation League has been notified about the shooting.

Congressman Lloyd Doggett, a Democrat, said Michael Sheppard was warden at the West Texas center during the period examined in a 2018 report by The University of Texas and Texas A&M immigration law clinics and the immigration advocacy group RAICES. The reported cited multiple allegations of physical and verbal abuse against African migrants at the facility.

Information provided by Doggett’s office shows the webpage for LaSalle Corrections listed Sheppard as an employee at West Texas since 2015.

According to the report, the warden “was involved in three of the detainees’ reports of verbal threats, as well as in incidents of physical assault.” The warden cited in the report was not named.

Sepúlveda’s death was the first of two deadly shootings along the U.S.-Mexico border in less than a week.

A Mexican citizen who was in custody was fatally shot at a the Ysleta Border Patrol Station in El Paso on Tuesday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, the FBI said.

The Border Patrol said its agents were involved in the shooting, but no details were released about what preceded it. The Mexican Consulate in El Paso said the man who died was a Mexican citizen who was being processed at the station when criminal charges against him were discovered. The FBI is leading the investigation into the shooting.

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October 5, 2022
Resident sues wood products company over California wildfire

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California man who lost his home in a wildfire last month has sued a wood products company at the center of the blaze, accusing it of failing to address the risk of a fire starting on its property.

The fire started near the Roseburg Forest Products Co. mill on Sept. 2 in the small town of Weed near the California-Oregon border. It eventually burned more than six square miles (15.5 square kilometers), destroyed 118 buildings and killed two people. California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is still investigating the cause of the fire.

The mill produces its own electricity from wood remnants, a process that produces hot ash that is then sprayed with water from a machine. The company says it is investigating whether that machine, which it says is supplied by a third-party, failed to cool the ash enough, which could have started the fire.

Tuesday, lawyers for 61-year-old Robert Davies sued the company, saying it did not make sure the machine was adequately designed, inspected and maintained — making the shed where the ashes were stored “a tinderbox awaiting a spark.”

Instead of fixing the machine, the lawsuit says the company relied on its employees to put out fires, resulting in “a number of unreported fires at the facility.”

“It begs the question, what was done from a safety standpoint to be able to address these fires that had occurred by using the correct technology and systems that would not rely solely on humans to be able to intervene,” Frank Pitre, one of Davies’ lawyers, said during a press conference on Wednesday.

A spokesperson for the company declined to comment.

The company has set aside $50 million to support victims of the fire, and so far it has compensated more than 300 people. That included Davies, who received $5,000. The lawsuit says this wasn’t enough to compensate him for the loss of his home of over 30 years and everything inside it.

Pitre said he doesn’t believe the fire was a freak accident, saying multiple fires occurred on the site leading up to the blaze, known as the Mill Fire, which began on Sept. 2. He added the area was notorious for high winds during certain parts of the year.

Terry Anderlini, another lawyer representing Davies, said Wednesday that the fire should never have happened.

“We’re here to bring this forward and get to the truth of the matter,” Anderlini said.

Warmer temperatures and drier conditions as a result of climate change have sped up the cadence of wildfires in Western states, scientists say. Wildfires have devastated communities in California, which, in the last five years, has seen the largest and most destructive fires in history.

The Mill Fire started less than a quarter mile (0.3 kilometers) from the Weed City Fire Department and burned for 11 days. It prompted Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency in Siskiyou County and resulted in federal grant money to fight the blaze and support residents.

Davies, who previously worked for an engineering company that contracted with the U.S. military, said he was in his home with his 25-year-old son when the fire started. After hearing helicopters flying from above, Davies walked outside and saw smoke coming over a hill. Within less than an hour, the smoke reached his house, he said.

Davies and his son left their home with laundry baskets and clothes. Among the items left behind in Davies’ house were Disney collectibles he planned to will to his 36-year-old daughter.

Davies said his family moved to the house in the mountains at least in part to avoid crime in larger cities.

“In a way, it was kind of like a fairytale,” Davies said. “We never had to worry. And that’s all been stripped from, not only myself, but my children.”

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Sophie Austin is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Sophie Austin on Twitter.

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October 5, 2022
State, cops seek to bar evidence in trial over Floyd killing

MINNEAPOLIS — Prosecutors and defense attorneys for two former Minneapolis police officers charged in the killing of George Floyd have filed more than 100 motions to limit testimony or evidence at trial — with many requests relying heavily on what happened at the previous two trials in Floyd’s death.

J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao are charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. With jury selection to begin Oct. 24, both sides are using what they learned in the prior trials to try to shape the proceeding in their favor. Hearings on the motions are scheduled for Thursday and Friday.

Defense attorney Mike Brandt, who isn’t connected to the case, said it’s typical pretrial maneuvering for the two sides to guess what the other will introduce and try to gain an advantage. Kueng and Thao “have a better crystal ball,” he said.

Kueng, Thao and Thomas Lane were working with Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020, when Chauvin, who is white, used his knee to pin Floyd’s neck to the pavement for more than nine minutes as the 46-year-old Black man said he couldn’t breathe and eventually grew still. Kueng knelt on Floyd’s back, Lane held his legs and Thao kept bystanders back.

Floyd’s killing was captured in bystander video and sparked worldwide protests as part of a reckoning over racial injustice.

Many of the requests stem from what’s already happened in court. Tom Plunkett, Kueng’s attorney, wants the judge to bar the state’s witnesses from addressing jurors directly and from asking them to take actions as part of a demonstration, such as asking them to examine their own necks.

That comes after one expert in Chauvin’s trial, lung and critical care specialist Dr. Martin Tobin, at one point loosened his tie, placed his hands on his own neck and encouraged jurors to do the same as he explained how he believed Floyd died. Jurors said later that Tobin provided some of the trial’s most compelling evidence.

Tobin also narrated video of Floyd being held to the pavement and pinpointed what he said was the moment Floyd died. And paramedic Derek Smith testified that after checking for a pulse and not finding one: “In layman’s terms? I thought he was dead.” Bob Paule, an attorney for Thao, wants witnesses barred from referring to Floyd as dead until the time at which he was officially pronounced dead at a hospital. And Plunkett is asking that all non-physician testimony be limited to treatments and observations, not to Floyd’s cause of death or characterization about whether he was dead or alive.

The state, meanwhile, wants to bar the defense from introducing evidence about the men’s characters and families. That request comes after the federal trial, in which the defendants or their family members talked about their backgrounds, their volunteerism, and how they overcame hardship – all evidence the state called irrelevant.

The state also seeks to bar evidence about whether Chauvin was qualified to be a field training officer – after questions about that were raised during the federal trial as part of a defense strategy to blame the officers’ training for their actions that day.

The defense wants witnesses barred from testifying in uniform unless they are testifying as part of their job. That comes after Genevieve Hansen, a firefighter who was off duty when she came upon Floyd’s arrest, testified in uniform at Chauvin’s trial. Paule said Hansen will be testifying as a bystander, and that having a person testify under oath while in uniform might lead a jury to improperly find them more trustworthy.

The defense also wants an order barring witnesses from wearing signage, after another state witness, Donald Williams, wore a T-shirt under his dress shirt that said “Black Excellence,” according to the defense, and was visible to at least one juror. Paule also wants prosecutors to be barred from questioning Williams about his martial arts training and his understanding of a “blood choke” and how it affects breathing, saying Williams has no medical training.

The defense wants to bar the state from questions that elicit emotional responses, as prosecutors did during Chauvin’s trial, and they want to bar prosecutors from calling juvenile bystanders as witnesses, including a girl who was 9 at the time.

The defense says calling the child would further traumatize her, provoke emotions from the jury, and that her testimony has repeated what other bystanders said. The state has countered that the testimony of multiple bystanders is necessary, and that the varied people on the street – an older man, teenagers and a young girl – show it was not the dangerous crowd the defense tried to portray in Chauvin’s trial.

They also said the fact that a 9-year-old girl knew Floyd was in distress demonstrates just how unreasonable the officers’ use of force was.

Kueng, Thao and Lane were convicted in federal court earlier this year of depriving Floyd of his right to medical care. Thao and Kueng were convicted of a second count for failing to intervene and stop Chauvin.

In July, U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson sentenced Kueng to three years in prison and Thao to 3½ years on the federal counts. They reported to federal custody on Tuesday: Thao, who is Hmong American, is being held in Lexington, Kentucky, and Kueng, who is Black, is in Lisbon, Ohio.

Lane, who is white, avoided a state trial by pleading guilty in May to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. He was sentenced to three years on the state conviction, and 2 1/2 years on the federal conviction. He is serving both sentences concurrently at a low-security federal prison camp in Littleton, Colorado.

Chauvin was convicted of murder and manslaughter and was given a 22 1/2-year state sentence in 2021. He also pleaded guilty to a federal count of violating Floyd’s civil rights and was sentenced to 21 years on the federal charge. He is serving the sentences at the same time at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson, Arizona.

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Find AP’s full coverage of the killing of George Floyd at: https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-george-floyd

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October 5, 2022
Cops: Fake 911 call helped unravel Vermont murder for hire

BURLINGTON, Vt. — A 911 call that sent Vermont State Police troopers on a search for a nonexistent man claiming to have shot his wife was a big clue that helped detectives unravel an international murder-for-hire plot tied to a potentially lucrative — yet troubled — oil deal.

Within hours of Gregory Davis’ body being found by the side of a snowy Vermont back road in January 2018, investigators learned of the deal that had the New Jersey native threatening to tell the FBI about his experiences with two Turkish investors he felt weren’t living up to their financial obligations.

Four years later, charges have been filed.

Prosecutors link Los Angeles biotech investor Serhat Gumrukcu, 39, to two middlemen and then to Jerry Banks — the man who allegedly made the 911 call, kidnapped and killed Davis.

Gumrukcu was arrested in May in Los Angeles. He was returned to Vermont where he pleaded not guilty Tuesday to the charge of the use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire.

Most of the details of the case are in the voluminous court documents that have been filed in federal courts in Vermont, Nevada and California.

Davis, who was born in Englewood, New Jersey, moved to Vermont about three years before his death at age 49. Davis, his wife, and their six children, were renting a house in Danville, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of the capital, Montpelier.

Davis’ LinkedIn page described him as the managing director of New Jersey-based Mode Commodities. It also said he had 20 years’ experience with foreign direct investment programs and that he’d advised governments across the world.

Sometime after arriving in Vermont, Davis took a job with an environmental waste cleanup company, but the court records and his work history indicate he was involved in a series of investment ventures. After Davis’ death, his wife, Melissa, told investigators they lived off money he received from the investments.

That all came to an end at about 9 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018, when a masked man knocked on the door of Davis’ Danville home.

Melissa Davis described the man as having handcuffs, a rifle, and wearing a jacket that had a U.S. Marshals emblem. Their 12-year-old son told investigators the man drove a white, four-door car with red and blue emergency lights on the dash.

The man told Davis he had an arrest warrant for racketeering for him from Virginia. They went away together. Melissa Davis did not call police.

About 15 minutes before the kidnapping, someone called 911 from within a mile of Davis’ residence to report he had shot his wife and was going to kill himself. The caller did not provide the name of a town and police could not find a local road that matched the name given by the caller.

The next day, Davis’ handcuffed body was found at the base of a snowbank in the town of Barnet, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from his home. He had been shot multiple times in the head and torso. Investigators recovered .22 caliber cartridge casings.

Melissa Davis has filed a civil suit against Gumrukcu. In court Tuesday for Gumrukcu’s arraignment, she declined comment.

Within hours of the discovery of Davis’ body, investigators began to focus on the oil deal as a potential reason for his kidnapping and death.

On Dec. 29, 2017, Davis sent a text to a middleman in the oil deal for a settlement of $980,000 to exit the deal with Gumurkcu and his brother, Murat Gumrukcu.

“Therefore, as we’ve discussed it would be prudent to address the outstanding accounting. Have Murat and Serhat present something to speak to,” Davis texted the intermediary, who has not been charged, two days before his death. “Let’s hopefully close that matter and move forward. Without this our hands will be forced to turn this in to authorities which neither party wants.”

Not long after Davis’ death, the investigation entered what prosecutors described as a “long covert stage.”

Court documents detail how during that quiet period investigators were piece-by-piece assembling the puzzle that allegedly began with the 911 call made with a phone purchased by Banks at a Pennsylvania Walmart.

Over time, investigators discovered a chain connecting the four suspects: Banks was friends with Aron Lee Ethridge, who was friends with Berk Eratay, who worked for Gumrukcu.

Ethridge has already pleaded guilty and admitted to hiring Banks to kidnap and kill Davis. Eratay was arraigned in federal court in Vermont on July 29 where he pleaded not guilty. In a hearing last week, his attorney asked the court to release him pending trial, but the judge refused.

The charges against Gumrukcu, Eratay and Banks carry a potential death sentence or life in prison, but attorneys say the Justice Department will not seek the death penalty. As part of Ethridge’s plea deal with prosecutors, the attorneys are going to recommend he be sentenced to 27 years in prison.

The FBI refers questions about the case to the Vermont office of the United States Attorney, which as a matter of course, declines to comment on ongoing investigations. The Vermont State Police, which began the investigation into Davis’s death after his body was found, deferred questions to the U.S. Attorney.

Gumrukcu’s Vermont attorney David Kirby has declined comment.

In a response by prosecutors opposing his release, prosecutors said Eratay’s bank records reveal over $250,000 in wire transfers from a Turkish bank to two accounts he controlled between June and October of 2017. Eratay withdrew the money as cash in daily increments of $9,000, just below the $10,000 currency reporting requirement.

“Further, Eratay’s Google data (obtained by search warrant) shows that he documented personal information about Davis in July 2017, including his full name, date of birth, place of birth, and cell phone with a Vermont area code,” said a June filing by prosecutors.

Gumrukcu is a native of Turkey who immigrated to the United States in 2013 and became a permanent resident a year later.

In a request for bail filed in Los Angeles in June, Gumrukcu said he received medical training at Dokuz Eylul University in 2004 in Izmir, Turkey, and completed a residency in Russia.

The medical school did not respond to a request for comment on whether Gumrukcu finished his studies there. But the defense filing said he does not provide direct patient care and he has never claimed to be licensed as a physician in the United States.

In court Tuesday when asked about his education level, Gumrukcu replied, “university.”

“As a scientist, he is a true genius,” said a letter written as part of Gumrukcu’s request for citizenship that was included in the bail request by Enochian Biosciences CEO Dr. Mark Dybul. “He has the remarkable and rare ability to see across disciplines and to connect dots that others cannot see.”

In 2015 Gumrukcu began focusing on research, and one offshoot of which was the 2018 co-founding of Enochian Biosciences. The company describes itself as a pre-clinical biotechnology company committed to using “innovative gene and immune therapy interventions that provide hope for cures or life-long remissions for devastating diseases.”

But it was during 2017 that Davis was threatening the Gumrukcus with going to law enforcement with allegations they were defrauding him.

During that same period, Gumrukcu was facing felony fraud charges in California state court, involving housing investment fraud and bounced checks that had been provided to the man who worked to facilitate the oil deal with Davis. In January 2018, just after Davis’ murder, Gumrukcu pleaded guilty to one felony, but he later successfully modified the conviction into a misdemeanor.

Also during 2017, Gumrukcu was putting together a different deal through which he obtained a significant ownership stake in Enochian Biosciences.

“During 2017, fraud complaints by Davis would have at least complicated the Enochian transaction, and likely would have scuttled the Enochian deal altogether,” said the June filing by prosecutors.

Earlier this year after Gumrukcu’s arrest, the Enochian board of directors issued a statement that said there was no link between the crime Gumrukcu is charged with and the company.

The filing said that Gumrukcu owned about $100 million in Enochian stock. About a week before his arrest, Gumrukcu generated $2 million in cash from an Enochian stock sale.

Both Gumrukcus were interviewed in early 2018 about the murder of Davis, but both denied involvement. Murat Gumrukcu left the U.S. in March 2018 and has not returned. Efforts by The Associated Press to reach him in Turkey were unsuccessful.

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AP reporter Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey and AP researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed to this report.

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October 5, 2022
Texas inmate who fought prayer, touch rules to be executed

HOUSTON — A Texas death row inmate whose case clarified the role of spiritual advisers in death chambers nationwide is scheduled for execution Wednesday, despite efforts by a district attorney to stop his lethal injection.

John Henry Ramirez, 38, was sentenced to death for killing 46-year-old Pablo Castro, a convenience store clerk, in 2004. Prosecutors said Castro was taking the trash out from the store in Corpus Christi when Ramirez robbed him of $1.25 and stabbed him 29 times.

Castro’s killing took place during a series of robberies; Ramirez and two women had been stealing money following a three-day drug binge. Ramirez fled to Mexico but was arrested 3½ years later.

Ramirez challenged state prison rules that prevented his pastor from touching him and praying aloud during his execution, saying his religious freedom was being violated. That challenge led to his execution being delayed as well as the executions of others.

In March, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with Ramirez, saying states must accommodate the wishes of death row inmates who want to have their faith leaders pray and touch them during their executions.

On Monday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously declined to commute Ramirez’s death sentence to a lesser penalty. According to his attorney, Ramirez has exhausted all possible appeals and no final request to the U.S. Supreme Court is planned.

The lead prosecutor at Ramirez’s trial in 2008, Mark Skurka, said it was unfair that Ramirez would have someone praying over him as he dies when Castro didn’t have the same opportunity.

“It has been a long time coming, but Pablo Castro will probably finally get the justice that his family has sought for so long, despite the legal delays,” said Skurka, who later served as Nueces County district attorney before retiring.

Ramirez’s attorney, Seth Kretzer, said while he feels empathy for Castro’s family, his client’s challenge was about protecting religious freedoms for all. Ramirez was not asking for something new but something that has been part of jurisprudence throughout history, Kretzer said. He said even Nazi war criminals were provided ministers before their executions after World War II.

“That was not a reflection on some favor we were doing for the Nazis,” Kretzer said. “Providing religious administration at the time of death is a reflection of the relative moral strength of the captors.”

Kretzer said Ramirez’s spiritual adviser, Dana Moore, will also be able to hold a Bible in the death chamber, which hadn’t been allowed before.

Ramirez’s case took another turn in April when current Nueces County District Attorney Mark Gonzalez asked a judge to withdraw the death warrant and delay the execution, saying it had been requested by mistake. Gonzalez said he considers the death penalty “unethical.”

During a nearly 20-minute Facebook live video, Gonzalez said he believes the death penalty is one of the “many things wrong with our justice system.” Gonzalez said he would not seek the death penalty while he remains in office.

He did not return a phone call or email seeking comment.

Also in April, four of Castro’s children filed a motion asking that Ramirez’s execution order be left in place.

“I want my father to finally have his justice as well as the peace to finally move on with my life and let this nightmare be over,” Fernando Castro, one of his sons, said in the motion.

In June, a judge declined Gonzalez’ request to withdraw Wednesday’s execution date. Last month, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals declined to even consider the request.

If Ramirez is executed, he would be the third inmate put to death this year in Texas and the 11th in the U.S.

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Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70

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October 4, 2022
Jones won’t re-take stand in Sandy Hook defamation trial

WATERBURY, Conn. — The father of a boy killed at the Sandy Hook elementary school tried Tuesday to describe for a jury the distress he felt when he learned conspiracy theorists planned to dig up his 7-year-old son’s grave to prove the mass shooting never happened.

Mark Barden, whose son Daniel was among the 26 victims, was the final family member to testify at a trial to determine how much Infowars host Alex Jones should pay for fueling a bogus theory that the massacre was a hoax.

“This is so sacrosanct and hallowed a place for my family and to hear that people were desecrating it and urinating on it and threatening to dig it up, I don’t know how to articulate to you what that feels like,” Barden told the jury. “But that’s where we are.”

Jones, who argued outside the courthouse that he has never been linked to threats against the families, was initially expected to re-take the stand Wednesday in the civil trial. But his attorney indicated his client was heading home and the defense would call no witnesses.

A judge last year found Jones liable by default for spreading lies about the massacre that harmed the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, who include the parents and siblings of some victims. The six-member jury is now deciding how much Jones and Free Speech Systems, Infowars’ parent company, should pay for defaming them and intentionally inflicting emotional distress.

The plaintiffs attorneys said they planned to rest their case Wednesday after about 20 minutes of video testimony.

Barden and his wife, Jackie, were among 15 family members to take the stand in the defamation trial, which is being held in Waterbury, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the site of the school shooting in Newtown.

Those witnesses have testified over several days about receiving death and rape threats, mail from conspiracy theorists that included photos of dead children, and in-person confrontations with people telling them their children or wives or mothers never existed and that they are “crisis actors.”

Jackie Barden testified Tuesday that the hoax believers started harassing them in the weeks after the massacre and terrified her family. Mark became nervous about his surroundings and family’s safety, she said. And their daughter, now a 20-year-old college student, has anxiety and fears being alone in the family’s home.

“It’s terrible to think that your 20-year-old daughter is afraid,” she said.

Francine Wheeler, whose son Ben was killed, recounted an exchange with another shooting victim’s mother at a conference on gun violence in which that woman called her a liar.

She told the jury it has been hard enough to live with the death of her son.

“It’s quite another thing when people take everything about your boy, who is gone, and your surviving child and your husband and everything you ever did in your life that is on the Internet and harass you and make fun of you,” she said.

Relatives said the harassment has not stopped in the nearly 10 years since the shooting.

Jones testified earlier in the trial — a contentious appearance in which he called an attorney for the victims families an ambulance chaser and said he was “done saying I’m sorry,” for saying Sandy Hook was a hoax.

His lawyers had earlier indicated they would call him back to the stand Wednesday to bolster his arguments that the damages awarded to the plaintiffs should be minimal.

But in a sidebar with the judge Tuesday, Jones’ attorney, Norm Pattis said his client was leaving Connecticut and had no plans to testify, though he couldn’t say for sure.

“What if (Jones) calls me tonight and says, ‘I’ve changed my mind,’” Pattis said during a sidebar with the judge and the plaintiffs attorneys. “What then?”

Earlier in the day, Jones told reporters outside the courthouse that he believed that if he said what he wanted to during his testimony, the judge might hold him in contempt of court.

“Not because I’m guilty,” Jones said, “but because she said that if I tell the truth, she’ll put me in the Waterbury jail for sixth months. That’s what she can do.”

Because Jones has already been found liable, the judge has sought to limit his testimony before the jury, saying he can’t argue, for example, that his statements were protected free speech. Jones was found liable without a trial by the judge after he repeatedly violated court orders to share financial documents with the plaintiffs.

Jones in recent years has acknowledged the shooting happened, but claims the families are being used to push a gun-control and anti-free speech agenda.

In a similar trial last month in Austin, Texas, home to Jones and Infowars, a jury ordered him to pay nearly $50 million in damages to the parents of one of the children killed in the shooting, because of the hoax lies. A third such trial in Texas involving two other parents is expected to begin near the end of the year.

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October 4, 2022
Jolie details Brad Pitt abuse allegations in court filing

LOS ANGELES — A court filing Tuesday from Angelina Jolie alleges that on a 2016 flight, Brad Pitt grabbed her by the head and shook her then choked one of their children and struck another when they tried to defend her.

The descriptions of abuse on the private flight came in a cross-complaint Jolie filed in the couple’s dispute over a French home and winery they co-owned that is separate from their ongoing divorce, which she sought soon after.

A representative for Pitt, who was not authorized to speak publicly, strongly denied Jolie’s allegations and called them “another rehash that only harms the family.”

The allegations of abuse on the plane first became public shortly after the flight, but reports were initially vague and details were kept sealed in divorce documents and investigations by the FBI and Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, both of which found that no action against Pitt was necessary.

A judge gave Pitt 50-50 custody of the children after a closed-door trial in which the allegations were aired. But an appeals court subsequently disqualified the private judge for not disclosing possible conflicts of interest after a motion from Jolie, nullifying the decision.

More details of the allegations were revealed earlier this year when a Jolie lawsuit against the FBI over a Freedom of Information Act request was made public.

The New York Times first reported the court filing.

The filing says that on Sept. 14, 2016, Jolie, Pitt and their six children were traveling from the winery, Chateau Miraval, to Los Angeles.

“Pitt’s aggressive behavior started even before the family got to the airport, with Pitt having a confrontation with one of the children. After the flight took off, Jolie approached Pitt and asked him what was wrong,” the filing says. “Pitt accused her of being too deferential to the children and verbally attacked her.”

Later, it says, “He pulled her into the bathroom and began yelling at her. Pitt grabbed Jolie by the head and shook her, and then grabbed her shoulders and shook her again before pushing her into the bathroom wall.”

One of the children, who were between 8 and 15 years old at the time, verbally defended Jolie, the countersuit says, and Pitt lashed out.

“Pitt lunged at his own child and Jolie grabbed him from behind to stop him. To get Jolie off his back, Pitt threw himself backwards into the airplane’s seats injuring Jolie’s back and elbow,” the filing says. “The children rushed in and all bravely tried to protect each other. Before it was over, Pitt choked one of the children and struck another in the face.”

The document says he subsequently poured beer on Jolie and poured beer and red wine on the children.

Jolie’s gave an account of the flight to two FBI investigators in the days that followed. It appeared in a heavily redacted report later released by the agency.

It included a photo of a bruise on Jolie’s elbow and a “rug-burn type injury” on her hand. In it she said that she had seen Pitt have two to three drinks, but said he appeared articulate and not intoxicated.

The investigators met with federal prosecutors, and “It was agreed by all parties that criminal charges in this case would not be pursued due to several factors,” the report says.

An FBI statement said it has “conducted a review of the circumstances and will not pursue further investigation.”

The 47-year-old Oscar-winning actor and director Jolie and the 58-year-old Oscar-winning actor Pitt were among Hollywood’s most prominent couples for 12 years.

They had been romantic partners for a decade when they married in 2014. Jolie filed for divorce in 2016, and a judge declared them single in 2019, but the divorce case has not been finalized with custody and financial issues still in dispute.

———

Associated Press Entertainment Writer Anthony McCartney contributed to this report.

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October 4, 2022
Former veteran California FBI agent convicted of bribery

LOS ANGELES — A former FBI agent in Northern California who handled national security issues was convicted Tuesday of accepting at least $150,000 in gifts and cash bribes to provide confidential information to a man with organized crime ties, prosecutors said.

Babak Broumand, 56, of Lafayette, was found guilty in Los Angeles of conspiracy, bribery of a public official and monetary transactions in property derived from unlawful activity, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.

He could face 15 to 45 years in federal prison when he is sentenced in January.

Broumand, who joined the FBI in 1999, worked until 2018 in the bureau’s San Francisco office, where he was responsible for national security investigations, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said from 2015 to 2018, Broumand accepted “cash, checks, private jet flights, a Ducati motorcycle, hotel stays, escorts, meals, and other items of value” in return for searching law enforcement databases to help a self-proclaimed lawyer and his criminal associates learn if they were under investigation and avoid prosecution.

Court documents refer to the lawyer only as “E.S.” but his name was Edgar Sargsyan, who earlier pleaded guilty to bribing Broumand and another federal agent and testified at his trial.

The two men were introduced at a Beverly Hills cigar club.

Sargsyan has admitted making a fortune by stealing identities, making credit card charges and taking out bank loans in their names, and while he falsely claimed to be an attorney he acknowledged actually paying a friend to take the bar exam under his name, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“To conceal the nature of their corrupt relationship, Broumand made it falsely appear that E.S. was working as an FBI source” and wrote false reports stating he was making legitimate database queries, according to the Department of Justice.

One involved Levon Termendzhyan, whom prosecutors described as an Armenian organized crime figure for whom Sargsyan had worked.

Termendzhyan was convicted in 2020 in a Utah federal court of involvement in a $1 billion fraud scheme involving renewable fuel tax credits, prosecutors said. He awaits sentencing.

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October 4, 2022
Jury picked in trial related to Gov. Whitmer kidnapping plot

JACKSON, Mich. — A jury was seated Tuesday in the trial of three men charged in connection with a 2020 anti-government plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

The selection process lasted two days as a judge and lawyers in Jackson, Michigan, tried to weed out people who had personal conflicts — vacation, child care, work — or showed a potential for bias.

Opening statements were scheduled for Wednesday.

Joe Morrison, Pete Musico and Paul Bellar are charged with three crimes, including providing material support for a terrorist act. All were members of the Wolverine Watchmen, a paramilitary group that trained in Jackson County, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) west of Detroit.

The trio is not charged with directly participating in the kidnapping scheme, which was broken up by the FBI in October 2020. That prosecution, which was handled in federal court, produced four convictions and two acquittals.

Morrison, Musico and Bellar are accused of assisting others. The charges were filed in state court by the Michigan attorney general.

The jury will see and hear hate-filled conversations about police and public officials who were denounced as tyrants, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic when businesses were shut down, people were ordered to stay home and schools were closed.

Prospective jurors were repeatedly urged by defense lawyers to be fair and open-minded, despite what they hear. Bellar was deeply critical of police but is not charged with threatening law enforcement.

Defense attorneys insist Morrison, Musico and Bellar cut ties with Adam Fox, a leader of the kidnapping plot, before it picked up steam in summer 2020.

———

Find the AP’s full coverage of the kidnapping plot cases: https://apnews.com/hub/whitmer-kidnap-plot-trial.

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October 4, 2022
Detroit police release body cam video of fatal shooting

DETROIT — Police body camera footage showed officers pleading with Porter Burks to drop the knife he was carrying on the dimly lit Detroit street.

“Drop the knife for me, man. Come here real quick. You’re OK,” said a member of the Detroit Police Department’s crisis intervention team about 5 a.m. EDT Sunday on the city’s west side. “You’re not in any trouble. Can you just talk to me and drop the knife?”

“You’re not in any trouble, OK?” the officer continued. “I just want to help you. I just want to help you, man. OK? Can you just drop the knife for me please? Please? Whatever you’re going through I can help you.”

But Burks — who had a history of struggling with mental illness — didn’t drop the knife and after pacing in the middle of the street suddenly sprinted toward officers, who fired 38 shots in three seconds. Burks was pronounced dead at a hospital.

On Tuesday, Detroit police showed the footage to reporters. Police Chief James White called the shooting a “very tragic situation.”

“Not the desired outcome. This is not what we wanted,” said White who later added “our mental health crisis in this country is real. Our mental health crisis in our city is real.”

Burks suffered from schizophrenia, police said Tuesday.

Officers initially were called to a home on the west side about a knife-wielding man who was having a mental health crisis and spoke to a man who identified himself as Burks’ brother. The man said Burks had slashed the tires on his car.

Burks later was found walking along a nearby street. Officers can be heard on the body camera footage telling him not to approach the officers and to put the folding knife down.

Burks replied: “No, I am not,” minutes before sprinting toward the officers.

Five fired their weapons. Burks suffered about 15 wounds, according to police.

White defended the officers’ response, saying it’s part of their training.

“The officers had to stop a threat. They felt threatened,” he said. “There’s no time in three seconds — and someone charging at you with a knife — to look over to see what other people are doing. You, as a trained police officer, are trained to stop the threat.”

Officers intended to get Burks “some help … to get him secured and to a hospital,” White said.

It was not Burks’ first contact with Detroit police.

On June 26, he was admitted to a Detroit hospital psychological ward after he was found walking in his neighborhood “looking to fight someone,” police said.

Burks escaped two days later in hospital garb and was arrested by officers as he ran in and out of traffic.

In August 2020, he stabbed his 7-year-old stepsister in the neck. That March he stabbed his sister in the neck and his brother in the head.

“This is not just a police matter,” White said. “We need help with this system. The officers are routinely put into this mode, and candidly, we’re seeing more and more violent episodes.”

Advocates for people with mental illness say they face greater risk of a police encounter resulting in their death.

Hannah Wesolowski, chief advocacy officer of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, told The Associated Press for a story last month that many communities lack a mental health crisis infrastructure, and that nearly 130 million people in the United States live in areas with a shortage of mental health providers.

The Treatment Advocacy Center said in a 2015 report that people with untreated mental illness are 16 times more likely to be killed during a police encounter than other people approached by law enforcement.

The officers who fired shots Sunday at Burks have been placed on administrative leave.

State police are investigating Sunday’s shooting and will submit their findings to the Wayne County prosecutor’s office. Meanwhile, Detroit police are conducting an internal administrative probe.

On Monday, attorney Geoffrey Fieger said his firm had been retained by the Burks’ family and was working to obtain evidence from the shooting.

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October 4, 2022
2 South American researchers killed in Missouri

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri homicide and arson detectives are investigating the deaths of two South American researchers whose bodies were found after a weekend apartment fire near the Kansas City biomedical research center where they worked.

Kansas City police identified the victims as Camila Behrensen, 24, of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Pablo Guzmán Palma, 25, of Santiago, Chile.

The Stowers Institute for Medical Research said in a tweet Tuesday that both Behrensen and Palma were predoctoral researchers there.

“Our deepest sympathies are with their families,” the tweet said. “During this difficult time, and most importantly, out of respect to the two families, we want to honor and remember the joy, optimism, and exceptional work these two individuals embodied and all that they have accomplished.”

Behrensen and Palma were suffering from what police described as “apparent trauma” when fire crews responded Saturday and extinguished the blaze. Both were declared dead at the scene.

Police released few details but said there is a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. They asked Tuesday for help from anyone with surveillance video.

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October 4, 2022
EXPLAINER: What’s next in Musk’s epic battle with Twitter?

Elon Musk’s monthslong tussle with Twitter took another twist Tuesday when the Tesla billionaire seemed to return to where he started in April — offering to buy the company for $44 billion.

But it’s not over yet. Twitter says it intends to close the deal at the agreed-upon price, but the two sides are still booked for an Oct. 17 trial in Delaware over Musk’s earlier attempts to terminate the deal.

DOES ELON MUSK OWN TWITTER YET?

No, he doesn’t own Twitter and it’s still not clear if or when he would take it over. What happened this week is that his lawyer sent a letter to Twitter saying Musk will complete the deal as long as he lines up the promised debt financing and provided that the Delaware Chancery Court drops Twitter’s lawsuit against him. But Twitter is unlikely to give up on its legal proceedings unless it confirms that the deal is for real this time and not a tactical gambit.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

The judge presiding over the Delaware case hasn’t yet publicly weighed in on Musk’s new proposal, but what she says could determine the next steps.

Twitter’s deposition of Musk — set to begin Thursday — and even the Oct. 17 trial itself could still go forward if Twitter isn’t assured that the deal is closing, said Ann Lipton, an associate law professor at Tulane University.

“Twitter is not going to let that proceeding stop until it gets that 100% reassurance,” she said.

But if the deal does go through, Lipton said Musk could be in charge of Twitter in a matter of days — however long it takes him and his co-investors to line up the cash.

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October 4, 2022
Mississippi seeks execution date in 2000 killing of teenager

JACKSON, Miss. — The Mississippi attorney general’s office is asking the state to set an execution date for a former U.S. Marine Corps recruiter who was convicted in the 2000 rape and killing of a 16-year-old waitress.

Thomas Edwin Loden Jr., now 58, has been on death row since 2001, when he pleaded guilty to capital murder, rape and four counts of sexual battery.

Mississippi’s most recent execution was in November.

According to documents the attorney general filed Tuesday with the state Supreme Court, Loden kidnapped Leesa Marie Gray, who was stranded on the side of a road in northern Mississippi’s Itawamba County. Court records said Loden spent four hours repeatedly raping and sexually battering Gray before suffocating and strangling her to death.

Gray disappeared June 22, 2000, on her way home from working as a waitress at her family’s restaurant in the Dorsey community. Prosecutors said she was last seen driving out of the restaurant parking lot. Relatives found her car hours later with her purse still inside and the hazard lights flashing.

According to court documents, her body was found the next day in Loden’s van.

Loden had joined the Marine Corps immediately after he graduated from high school in Itawamba County in 1982. He served in Operation Desert Storm and went to recruiter school in 1998. Loden started operating the Marines’ recruiting office later that year in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

During Loden’s sentencing hearing after he pleaded guilty, he did not cross examine state witnesses, did not object to exhibits that prosecutors showed and did not offer any evidence to help his own case, the attorney general’s office wrote.

Loden filed several appeals of his conviction, and those were unsuccessful.

In 2015, he joined other four other Mississippi death row inmates in a federal lawsuit challenging the state’s lethal injection protocol. The state revised the protocol to allow the use of midazolam if thiopental or pentobarbital cannot be obtained.

A federal district judge granted an injunction to prevent the state from using compounded pentobarbital or midazolam, but the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that ruling. The case is back at the district court and is unresolved.

The state attorney general’s office wrote Tuesday that the ongoing challenge to the lethal injection protocol “is not an impediment to setting Loden’s execution.”

Merrida Coxwell, one of the attorneys representing Loden in the federal lawsuit, declined to comment Tuesday on the attorney general’s request for an execution date because he had not yet read the filing. Another attorney in the federal lawsuit, Stacy Ferraro, did not immediately respond to a phone message from The Associated Press.

The execution last November was Mississippi’s first in nine years. A lethal injection was given to a David Neal Cox, who had pleaded guilty to killing his estranged wife and sexually assaulting her young daughter as her mother lay dying in 2012.

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October 4, 2022
Former Northeastern employee charged in campus bomb hoax

BOSTON — A former Northeastern University employee who said he was injured when a package he was opening on the Boston campus exploded last month was charged Tuesday with fabricating the incident.

Jason Duhaime, formerly the new technology manager and director of the university’s Immersive Media Lab, was charged with “conveying false and misleading information related to an explosive device” and then lying to federal investigators, federal authorities said.

“This alleged conduct is disturbing to say the least,” U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins said at a news conference. “Our city, more than most, knows all too well that a report or threat of an explosion is a very serious matter and necessitates an immediate and significant law enforcement response, given the potential devastation that can ensue.”

Duhaime told investigators that the hard plastic case exploded when he opened it on Sept. 13, causing “sharp” objects to fly from the case and injure his arms, but his arms only had superficial marks and there was no damage to his shirt, investigators said.

According to an FBI affidavit, “The inside and outside of the case did not bear any marks, dents, cracks, holes, or other signs that it had been exposed to a forceful or explosive discharge of any type or magnitude.”

The case also contained a rambling typed note full of misspellings and exclamation points that railed against virtual reality, referenced Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and threatened to “destroy” the lab.

“It has come to our attention that this VR lab is trying to change us as a world,” the note said.

The letter also said: “We know you are working with Mr. Mark Zuckerberg and the U.S. government.”

It later said: “We know you are working on a secret flying project to scan buildings across the world so Mark can take over google maps,” and “the robots your (sic) building are walking around NEU, MIT and into Harvard yard.”

The FBI affidavit said the letter was “pristine” and “bore no tears, holes, burn marks, or any other indication that it had been near any sort of forceful or explosive discharge.”

Investigators also discovered a word-for-word, electronic copy of the letter stored in a backup folder on a university computer in Duhaime’s office that had been written just hours before he called 911.

Authorities said they could not comment on the specific motive because of the ongoing investigation.

“In this case, we believe Mr. Duhaime wanted to be the victim but instead victimized his entire community by instilling fear at college campuses in Massachusetts and beyond,” Joseph Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Boston office said.

Duhaime, who lives in Texas, was scheduled to make an initial court appearance Tuesday afternoon in San Antonio.

An attorney for Duhaime did not immediately respond to a telephone message and an email seeking comment. Duhaime has previously denied staging the incident, saying in an interview with The Boston Globe that it was “very traumatic.”

“I did not stage this … No way, shape or form … they need to catch the guy that did this,” he told the newspaper.

Northeastern is a private university with about 16,000 students. The school in a statement Tuesday said Duhaime no longer works there.

The reported explosion led to swarms of police including two bomb squads descending on the school, forced the evacuation of several campus buildings, and put the campus on edge even after reassurances from the school that it was safe.

“His alleged actions diverted significant law enforcement resources away from essential public safety matters and caused fear and panic not only on campus, but also in the homes of the families and friends and loved ones of Northeastern students, faculty and staff,” Rollins said.

It marked one of the first big scares in Boston since 2013, when two bombs planted near the finish line of the Boston Marathon killed three spectators and wounded more than 260 others.

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October 4, 2022
Key suspect in murder-for-hire case pleads not guilty

BURLINGTON, Vt. — A Los Angeles biotech investor pleaded not guilty Tuesday in a transcontinental murder-for-hire conspiracy that led to the 2018 abduction and killing of a Vermont man.

Serhat Gumrukcu, a 39-year-old Turkish citizen, appeared in U.S. District Court in Burlington, where he entered the plea to a charge of interstate murder for hire during a brief hearing before Judge Geoffrey Crawford. If convicted, he could go to prison for life.

Gregory Davis, 49, was abducted from his home in Danville the night of Jan. 6, 2018, by a man wearing a jacket with U.S. Marshals Service insignia and carrying a rifle and handcuffs. Davis’ body was found the next day in a snowbank on the side of the road about 15 miles away, in the town of Barnet.

Davis’ wife, Melissa, declined to comment after the hearing. Gumrukcu’s husband, William Anderson Wittekind, of Los Angeles, also declined to comment.

Investigators identified the alleged kidnapper — Jerry Banks, of Fort Collins, Colorado — using a 911 call made about 15 minutes before the kidnapping in which the caller claimed to have killed his wife at a nonexistent address. Investigators traced the phone that Banks used to make the red herring 911 call to a Walmart in Pennsylvania where it was purchased while he was on his way to Vermont.

Prosecutors say Banks killed Davis, but he has been charged only with the kidnapping.

Investigators subsequently linked Banks to Aron Lee Ethridge, of Las Vegas, who hired him; to Gumrukcu associate Berk Eratay; and then to Gumrukcu.

Both Banks and Eratay have pleaded not guilty. Ethridge pleaded guilty over the summer, and attorneys are going to recommend a sentence of 27 years in prison.

Prosecutors allege that Gumrukcu, 39, was involved in an oil deal with Gregory Davis. After Gumrukcu missed payments, Davis threatened to report him to law enforcement.

During 2017, Gumrukcu was putting together a different deal through which he obtained a significant ownership stake in Enochian Biosciences, of Los Angeles. Prosecutors have said that any complaints by Davis to law enforcement could have ended the Enochian deal.

After Gumrukcu’s arrest, Enochian issued a statement saying there was no link between the company and the crime with which Gumrukcu is charged.

Last week, during a separate hearing in Rutland in the Eratay case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Van de Graaf told Crawford that if the three defendants go to trial, officials expect to try them together.

Eratay and Banks also face sentences of life in prison if convicted.

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October 4, 2022
Suspect in killings of 22 elderly Texans goes on trial again

DALLAS — A man accused of killing 22 elderly women in the Dallas area and stealing jewelry and valuables has been linked by DNA evidence to one of the deaths, a prosecutor said Monday.

Billy Chemirmir, 49, is on trial for capital murder in the death of 87-year-old Mary Brooks.

It’s Chemirmir’s third trial. His first trial, in the smothering death of 81-year-old Lu Thi Harris, ended in a mistrial last November when the jury deadlocked. He was retried and found guilty in April and sentenced to life without parole. If convicted in Brooks’ death, he’ll receive a second sentence of life without parole.

Prosecutor Glen Fitzmartin said in opening statements that while presenting evidence in the deaths of Brooks and Harris, he would also show that DNA links Chemirmir to the death of 80-year-old Martha Williams.

Chemirmir has maintained his innocence. His attorney entered a not guilty plea on his behalf Monday, but declined to make an opening statement.

His arrest was set in motion in March 2018 when Mary Annis Bartel — 91 at the time — told police that a man had forced his way into her apartment at an independent living community for seniors, tried to smother her with a pillow and took her jewelry.

Before Bartel died in 2020, she described the attack in a taped interview that was played to jurors Monday, as it was in the earlier trials. She said the minute she opened her door and saw a man wearing green rubber gloves, she knew she was in “grave danger.”

“He said: ‘Don’t fight me, lie on the bed,’” Bartel said.

Police said when they found Chemirmir the next day in the parking lot of his apartment complex, he was holding jewelry and cash, and had just thrown away a large red jewelry box. Documents in the box led them to the home of Harris, who was found dead in her bedroom, lipstick smeared on her pillow.

Following Chemirmir’s arrest, police across the Dallas area reexamined the deaths of other older people that had been considered natural, even as their families discovered missing jewelry.

He has been charged with 22 counts of capital murder in deaths spanning May 2016 to March 2018. Four of those indictments were added this summer.

Evidence presented at previous trials showed Harris and Chemirmir were checking out at the same time at a Walmart just hours before she was found dead.

According to evidence, Brooks had gone shopping at the same Walmart just weeks earlier. When Brooks was at the Walmart, Chemirmir was sitting in his car in the parking lot, watching people, Fitzmartin said.

“She leaves, he leaves. His phone, you will hear, follows from the Walmart to her house,” Fitzmartin said. “She arrives at her house and she’s not heard from again, ever.”

The day after that trip to Walmart, Brooks’ grandson found her dead in her condo, groceries still in bags on the counter.

Most of the people Chemirmir is accused of killing lived in apartments at independent living communities for older people. He’s also accused of killing women in private homes, including the widow of a man he had cared for in his job as an at-home caregiver.

In a video interview with police, Chemirmir told a detective that he made money buying and selling jewelry and had also worked as a caregiver and a security guard.

Fitzmartin said Monday that Williams and Bartel lived in the same community, and that Williams had been found dead in her apartment about two weeks before the attack on Bartel.

As Williams’ family cleaned out her home, they discovered “there was something not right,” including missing items and a pillow with an odd stain, he said.

DNA found on that pillow can’t exclude Chemirmir, Fitzmartin said, and a search of Chemirmir’s vehicle turned up gloves with DNA that was a match for Williams.

Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot, a Democrat, sought life sentences rather than the death penalty when he tried Chemirmir on two of his 13 capital murder cases.

In an interview with The Dallas Morning News, Creuzot said he’s not against the death penalty, but among things he considers when deciding whether to pursue it are the time it takes before someone is executed, the costs of appeals and whether the person would still be a danger to society behind bars. Chemirmir, he added, is “going to die in the penitentiary.”

Chemirmir’s attorneys said in his previous trials that prosecutors didn’t prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.

Prosecutors in neighboring Collin County haven’t said if they will try any of their nine capital murder cases against Chemirmir.

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October 3, 2022
The Onion and the Supreme Court. Not a parody

WASHINGTON — The Onion has some serious things to say in defense of parody.

The satirical site that manages to persuade people to believe the absurd has filed a Supreme Court brief in support of a man who was arrested and prosecuted for making fun of police on social media.

“As the globe’s premier parodists, The Onion’s writers also have a self-serving interest in preventing political authorities from imprisoning humorists,” lawyers for the Onion wrote in a brief filed Monday. “This brief is submitted in the interest of at least mitigating their future punishment.”

The court filing doesn’t entirely keep a straight face, calling the federal judiciary “total Latin dorks.”

The Onion said it employs 350,000 people, is read by 4.3 trillion people and “has grown into the single most powerful and influential organization in human history.”

The Supreme Court case involves Anthony Novak, who was arrested after he spoofed the Parma, Ohio, police force in Facebook posts.

The posts were published over 12 hours and included an announcement of new police hiring “strongly encouraging minorities to not apply.” Another post promoted a fake event in which child sex offenders could be “removed from the sex offender registry and accepted as an honorary police officer.”

After being acquitted of criminal charges, the man sued the police for violating his constitutional rights. But a federal appeals court ruled the officers have “qualified immunity” and threw out the lawsuit.

One issue is whether people might reasonably have believed that what they saw on Novak’s site was real.

But the Onion said Novak had no obligation to post a disclaimer. “Put simply, for parody to work, it has to plausibly mimic the original,” the Onion said, noting its own tendency to mimic “the dry tone of an Associated Press news story.”

More than once, people have republished the Onion’s claims as true, including when it reported in 2012 that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was the sexiest man alive.

The brief concludes with a familiar call for the court to hear the case and a twist.

“The petition for certiorari should be granted, the rights of the people vindicated, and various historical wrongs remedied. The Onion would welcome any one of the three, particularly the first,” lawyers for the Onion wrote.

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October 3, 2022